A Petrelli Christmas ( For you, Colleen <3 )

He didn't care what Nathan said: they were celebrating Christmas. Maybe his brother didn't see that they had a whole lot to be thankful for, but Peter did. Everyone was safe and sound ( for now ), and in their world, that was a miracle. But he'd given up on decorating the place, even though it was his apartment. Nathan had been staying there during his recovery after Peter had relentlessly insisted. Since he'd gotten hurt protecting him, it was the least he could do. That, and he thought it'd make things better between him and Nathan. Sure, they bickered a lot, but it was almost like old times. All brothers fought, right? The main difference was that now they were arguing about who ate the leftovers and not who was about to destroy the world.

Peter fumbled with the doorknob as he juggled the bags of groceries in his arms, trying not to make a mess when he pushed his way inside.

As soon as he entered, he froze. A look of sheer surprise swept across his face as he glanced around the room that was all decked out with strings of multi-colored lights and pretty much anything else you could think of. When he left, none of this had been up ... or even out. His arms were getting tired, so he took a second to breeze into the kitchen, drop off the food he'd gotten at the store, and come back, before asking the question that'd been on the tip of his tongue ever since he'd walked in. "What's this?" He was still having trouble convincing himself he wasn't just seeing things.

Nathan rolled his eyes. "What's it look like?" Pete wasn't always the brightest bulb in the box, but this should've been an easy one to figure out.

"How did you-"

"I'm injured, not an invalid," Nathan dryly pointed out.

"I know. I just didn't expect you to do this." His brother did good to hobble around his apartment without groaning and complaining every five minutes about how painful it was to be a hero. How had he gone out and gotten a tree on Christmas Eve in the short amount of time he'd been gone? How'd he do it period?

"You made such a big deal out of it ... thought this would shut you up." They always said that no good deed goes unpunished. That was a load of crap, but it was the type of thing Peter put a lot of stock in. He also liked Christmas, and we're talking the works: the tree, the horrible eggnog, the stockings on the fireplace ... It was a joke. They weren't kids anymore. They didn't believe in Santa Clause or 'times of good cheer.' Who came up with this stuff anyway? But if he was going to be someone else's houseguest, he could chip in a little bit - if nothing else, to keep Pete from sulking all day and whining about how they could've had fun doing this the old-fashioned way if he hadn't been such a stick in the mud or worse, an old spoil sport.

"You happy now?"

He was touched: really and truly touched that Nathan had gone through the trouble of setting this all up for him. "Yeah." Peter flashed his brother an appreciative smile. "You gotta admit it's nice. You and me here, together. And that tree ..."

A glare was shot Peter's way. "What about it?"

"It's huge." ... Especially for his small apartment.

"Hey, you're the one who wanted a stupid tree." Getting it had been no easy task, so he had little patience when it came to complaints about its size.

"It's not stupid." The corners of Peter's mouth dipped down into a sullen frown.

Great, he was already pouting. Guess he'd have to kick the whole warm and fuzzy feeling thing into high gear to keep his brother from bursting into tears. "Alright. Maybe it's not so bad." There. That was better, right? On to more important things. "Sit down. There's something I want to talk to you about."

"Should I be worried?" Nathan had a way of doing a complete one-eighty when you least expected it, so every time he heard 'I want to talk to you about something,' he got a little nervous.

He shook his head and with a grunt hoisted himself to his feet, then limped over to the sofa to make himself comfortable. "No." Nathan patted the cushion beside him and waited until Peter had sat down before getting to what exactly it was he wanted to discuss. "I talked to Ma-"

"Have you guys made up?" Peter asked anxiously. He knew about their blowout, but he really wanted them to bury the hatchet. After all, they were family.

"Sort of. Look, Pete ... Mom told me that Dad was the one who tried to have me killed. He was the one responsible for Heidi's accident, not Linderman. He was behind everything." Considering the source, he'd been skeptical. But after doing a little digging around on his own, he'd uncovered enough to know that his mother hadn't been lying. It broke his heart to know that his father had been ready to get rid of him just because he'd had a firm hand in Linderman's dirty dealings all those years and was trying to cover it up, although that part probably wouldn't have been that shocking. Linderman was Dad's biggest client ... Even Nathan knew that no man could keep his hand's completely clean being affiliated with someone like that. And to think that this was the one person he was willing to turn against his beloved brother for. It made him sick to his stomach just to think about it. There was lots of anger and resentment bottled up inside, but nowhere to direct that hostility. One could only hope that he'd be more successful at channeling that negativity than he had in the past.

Peter stared intently at Nathan, trying to imagine how messed up inside he must be over all this, even if it barely showed. "You believe her?"

It would've been a lot easier to say Ma was making it up, but he knew better now. "It's over, Peter. What would she gain from lying?" If she'd pulled this card sooner, maybe he would've had more doubts. But with Dad gone, it seemed pointless.

He lifted a hand to give his brother's shoulder a sympathetic squeeze. "I'm sorry, Nathan. I know you wanted to believe in him." It wasn't easy for him to accept either, but he'd gotten used to being the 'disappointment' in the family. He'd long given up on trying to make their father proud. Nathan never had.

"Yeah. My point is that it's going to take a long time for us to get back to where we were, but we can survive this. I will make it up to you." This wasn't supposed to turn into a pity-party. He just felt that Peter should know. And while he couldn't erase the past, he could promise to change the future.

It finally made sense: why Nathan had suddenly found the holiday spirit. "So that's what this is?"

"For starters. Is it working?" A little bribery never hurt.

Peter nodded.

Realizing that the window of opportunity was wide open, he decided to see how far Nathan would go to make this all perfect for him. "You know, Mom's going to be alone for Christmas ..."

Pete had a good heart. There was no denying that. And because he knew his brother so well, he'd seen this coming. "No, she's not. I already invited her. I knew you'd want her here." The call had been tense, but he'd managed to sound somewhat pleased about the prospect of the three of them spending the day together.

"And you don't?" He asked, raising one brow curiously.

"Don't worry. I'll be on my best behavior." When Nathan received that look ( you know, the one that came right before a long lecture ), he knew his answer wasn't satisfactory, so he'd add to it. "I've made my share of mistakes, so if we're talking about forgiveness, then sure. I can overlook what she's done. But I can't trust her anymore, Peter, and that's not going to change anytime soon. Kind of like you and me ..." From now on, he was being completely honesty, no matter what.

"That's not true. I trust you." Nathan had screwed up big time, but he'd taken a huge risk in cleaning up his own mess instead of letting someone else do it for him. Not only that, but Peter was able to see past the gruff exterior.

"Then you're a bigger fool than I thought. One of these days you're going to learn ..." He didn't ever know how to respond to that. In a way he was flattered that after all the stunts he'd pulled, his brother hadn't lost faith in him. But at the same time, Peter's devout trust in others could get him into serious trouble one day ( case in point: Adam Monroe ). Sometimes you had to toughen up and learn how the game was played, or you got trampled. Though if you played the game too well, you became the villain. It was a fine line: one he'd walked many times.

"Not if you keep proving me right."

A smile curved its way across his face before he abruptly changed the subject and gestured towards the partially decorated pine. "Get over there and finish putting the ornaments on the tree. I did my half. Now it's your turn." He could tell this was turning into one of those Hallmark moments, so Nathan shifted his focus to a task that needed completing.

"What are you going to do?" Wouldn't it have been more fun to finish it together?

"I'm going to laugh at you trying to get the angel up on the top without knocking the whole thing over." Nathan's smile turned into a smirk as he leaned back and twisted his head to get a better view of Peter's face.

"You did this on purpose." He wasn't really all that offended, but that didn't stop him from acting like he was. What if he did knock it over? Then everything would be ruined.

"You're right. I did. Now let's see if you'll succeed or end up taking the fall." If it turned into a disaster, then maybe it wasn't meant to be - or maybe they'd just have to start over and do it again while Peter huffed about what a cruel person he was.

Before Peter got up to do his designated duty, Nathan unexpectedly wrapped his arm loosely around his brother's neck and pulled him closer to give the top of his head a quick kiss. It was an affectionate gesture, but he tried to write it off as something else entirely, because he failed miserably at being a sap ( a fact which he was very proud of ).

"That was for good luck."